For Dear Blanca’s Dylan Dickerson, who last performed in front of an in-person audience in March of 2020 at the Radio Room in Greenville, S.C — being on stage at the first First Thursday since ‘the before times,’ was surreal — a bit like time travel.

“This first show back felt like a cathartic return to form and a chance to connect with other humans in person for the first time — in what feels like forever,” says Dickerson, “I was so grateful to be back together with the band and see everyone in the crowd.”

“It was quite emotional — in a variety of ways,” says Alex McCollum, Dickerson’s bandmate in Dear Blanca and founding member of Stagbriar, also on the bill at the monthly event series from the Columbia Museum of Art. “That was the first time I've been out in public without a mask on.”

Stagbriar’s last show was in December of 2019, and it’s been ten months since the release of their second full-length, Suppose You Grow.

“I got to hear people singing words to songs that had only ever been released on Spotify in the middle of a pandemic. We've never played these songs out for anyone before. And they already knew all the words and were singing back at me,” says McCollum, “It made me feel like what we were doing had some purpose. And that it was worth sharing. Seeing people sing songs that I had never played in public before, that was pretty awesome.”

Both bands released new records in 2020.

Dear Blanca: Perched

Stagbriar: Suppose You Grow

Photos copyright 2021 Sean Rayford

Sean Rayford is a photojournalist based in Columbia, South Carolina. See more at seanrayford.com